Category: <span>News</span>

Christina Drain The Corsair With the external tank one-third full of propellant, NASA crews are closely watching the engine cut-off sensors for any sign of failure. Monitoring includes the sensors, the recently soldered pass-through connectors, even up through the flight deck, according to mission control. The malfunctioning sensors were the cause for the December scrub...

Christina Drain The Corsair The slow fill of the three fuel cells on Atlantis is going well. A mixture of liquid hydrogen and oxygen is being pumped into the cells. The crucial ECO sensor testing has not begun.  

Christina Drain The Corsair Atlantis is ready to go, but weather may be a factor in tomorrow’s launch. Severe weather pummeling the southeast today is expected to move into the area by launch time, although it won’t have the energy it has had in the last 24 hours, according to shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters....

Michael Rutschky The Corsair After a series of sensor failures that restricted the December launch window for NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-122, mission managers at Kennedy Space Center are putting their hopes toward a Jan. 24 launch date for Space Shuttle Atlantis and the Columbus ISS laboratory module. The new date works around several weeks...

Michael Rutschky The Corsair NASA mission STS-122 will introduce a new technological innovation to the International Space Station, courtesy of NASA’s partner in the mission, the European Space Agency. The new addition, Columbus, will attach to ISS and serve as a laboratory in which astronauts on the space station will engage in several different kinds...

Michael Rutschky The Corsair With one day left before the launch of space shuttle Atlantis, NASA test director Jeff Spaulding and Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters met with the press to report that all is still going according to plan. With the exception of a minimal leak to the Tank 5 vent manifold, the pre-launch...

Michael Rutschky The Corsair All is going well at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in the final hours leading up to the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. So far no flaws have been detected that could postpone the launch of Atlantis. The space shuttle launches Thursday at 4:30 p.m. EST to initiate mission STS-122. Shuttle...

Michael Rutschky The Corsair Confirmation came from mission managers at 7:24 a.m. EST today that a Sunday launch for space shuttle Atlantis had been cancelled. At approximately 6:50 a.m. EST this morning, the third of four liquid hydrogen sensors on the LH2 fuel tank of NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis failed its simulated tests. This was...

Michael Rutschky The Corsair In a meeting held today at Kennedy Space Center, STS-122 mission managers underwent what was called a passionate discussion regarding the malfunctioning sensors in the liquid hydrogen fuel tank of space shuttle Atlantis. The ultimate outcome of this meeting was the unanimous decision to go ahead with a launch of the...

Michael Rutschky The Corsair Officials at Kennedy Space Center have elected to extend the postponement of the launch of space shuttle Atlantis from 24 hours to 48 hours, making the new launch day Dec. 8. The announcement came at 7:30 p.m. EST, Dec. 6, after spending the day troubleshooting the malfunctioning liquid hydrogen fuel tank...